Fred Couples raves about Tiger Woods and his 'stupid' number of victories

Champions Tour golfer Fred Couples (right) chats on the first tee Wednesday with Dr. Condoleezza Rice, one of his partners in the Regions Tradition pro-am. (Birmingham News/Joe Songer)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Fred Couples gave a pretty good indication of how he feels about Tiger Woods when he added him to the 2011 U.S. Presidents Cup team as a captain's pick.

"People were shocked when I picked him because they don't like him," Couples said. "I would pick him on any team."

Couples didn't stop there. Speaking after his pro-am round Wednesday at Shoal Creek, in anticipation of today's opening round in the Regions Tradition, the 52-year-old Couples raved about what Woods has accomplished and what he still may achieve.

"He's won 73 times at the age of 36," Couples said. "That's stupid. It makes no sense."

Woods added his 73rd career PGA Tour victory, tying Jack Nicklaus for second place all-time behind Sam Snead, at last week's Memorial. Couples, who was there for the announcement that he'll captain the Presidents Cup team for the third straight time in 2013, played the first two rounds with Woods.

"I texted him Friday night and said just make a putt or two," Couples said. "That's all you have to do."

Couples, who texts with Woods "all the time," called him a friend and said he's not going to join the crowd that condemns him for the admitted marital infidelities that led to Woods' divorce.

"I love the fact that he's one of my friends," Couples said. "I think you'd be an idiot if you sat there and think that he didn't do something wrong. In my opinion, that's all passed, and now he's a golfer, and he's starting to win again."

Couples objected to the notion that Woods hurt the game with the personal mistakes he made.

"I play golf," Couples said. "I don't go out there and beat up people in their lives. Did he make a mistake? Hell, yeah, he made a huge mistake. But did he ruin the game that I play? No. I wish he never would've done that. He might have 100 wins by now, and he would still be picked on."

Couples said he wouldn't be surprised if Woods won five times this year. He already has two victories in 2012.

"He's not the player he was," Couples said. "It's hard to do something 20 straight years. I sit and laugh when I hear people talk about him, like he should win 6-8 times every year. ... You pounce on him for certain reasons, but when you sit and marvel at what he's done, they're ridiculous numbers. There are people that are going to beat him up, and that's fine with me, too. I'm just not one of them."

Dr. Rice can play

For one of the few times in his career, Couples wasn't the featured attraction in his pairing Wednesday at Shoal Creek. He played with Dr. Condoleezza Rice. The Alabama native is a former U.S. secretary of state, the second woman to hold that position, and now is a political science professor at Stanford.

Couples said it was "nice" that Rice signed more autographs than he did Wednesday.

"I have no problem (with that)," he said. "She can sign all the autographs. People love her and I can see why."

A Champions Tour spokesman said Rice was not available for interviews so it was left to Couples to break down Rice's game after playing with her for the first time.

"For her to come out and play in front of people, I'm sure it's a little nerve-wracking," Couples said. "But she does very, very well. One thing I would say, she's an incredible putter. She drives the ball great, and she's a great putter. She's a good player."